My Dress-Up Darling is a hit anime series in the Winter 2022 anime season, blending elements of the shojo and seinen genres along with the world of cosplay to create something fresh for anime fans everywhere. My Dress-Up Darling takes place in high school, but it's no ordinary rom-com -- it's all about the magic of cosplay and inspiration.
The protagonist is Gojo Wakana, who puts a twist on shonen conventions as an insecure hobbyist who keeps his interest in hina dolls a secret rather than announcing it to the world. Gojo loves those dolls, but such a hobby feels like a dead-end compared to the world of modern cosplay, and Gojo should take the hint. He needs to jump ship and dedicate himself entirely to cosplay.
Why Gojo Wakana Should Pursue Cosplay Full-Time
Gojo Wakana grew up with his grandfather, and through him, learned all about the world of classical Japanese doll-making. To Gojo, these dolls are beautiful pieces of art, but almost no one else appreciates them. His cousin mocked him for liking dolls as a boy, and that unpleasant incident prompted Gojo to keep his love of hina dolls a secret; now, he can't share his hobby with anyone except his grandfather. Almost no one around him seems to appreciate hina dolls or other classical Japanese arts -- they are more preoccupied with cosplay, anime, RPGs and other modern pop culture trends. This is Gojo's chance to really put his tailoring skills to good use.
In My Dress-Up Darling's first few episodes, Gojo is shown having trouble painting the faces of hina dolls, while he has an easy time designing and making their clothes. This made him the perfect candidate to help Kitagawa Marin with her burgeoning cosplay career, and Gojo agreed. He went on supply shopping trips with Marin, took her measurements in his room and pushed himself to the limit to finish her Slippery Girls 2 cosplay on time for an event.
Gojo wore himself out, but he also had a lot of fun, and he made an excellent costume that inspired the expert cosplayer Juju to request his services next. Gojo's talent with fabric and tailoring is already paying off, and it's helping him build his first real friendships too. Hina dolls merely set Gojo on this track; it's cosplay that's helping him express himself and make other people happy.
It's clear that Gojo has a rich future with cosplay, while making hina dolls offered him no such future as far as Gojo could tell. He can't make friends with a secret hobby, after all, and Juju and Marin aren't interested in them either. Cosplay, by contrast, is a huge and mainstream industry with a lot of room for innovation, and Gojo is in a good position to cash in on that in huge ways. He has every reason to switch to cosplay and abandon hina dolls, and his grandfather would probably understand. Practically speaking, this is the best route for Gojo to take by far, but there are some issues to resolve first.
Why Gojo Wakana Can't Abandon The Hina Dolls
Most signs point toward a future in making cosplay or even entering the formal fashion industry for Gojo, and he could make it big in those fields. Perhaps Gojo already realizes that, but he also knows that he can't turn his back on his hina doll hobby so easily. To begin with, Gojo would never get any closure if he just ditched the hobby immediately, since he always wanted to master the art of painting the dolls' faces. It would bother him greatly if he abandoned the hobby and never fully mastered it, and My Dress-Up Darling has already made it clear how thorough he can be with his projects. He can't stand to leave anything half-done or rush his work.
For another thing, Gojo would feel guilty if he abandoned the hobby that helped keep him and his grandfather close. Even if the senior Gojo was fully understanding, Gojo Wakana would feel like he's insulting his grandfather by quitting their shared hobby, and the elder Gojo would be left all alone with it. That guilt would eat away at Gojo Wakana, and he'd go right back to the hina dolls before long.
Somehow, some way, Gojo Wakana must resolve these issues when and if he plans on committing himself full-time to the world of cosplay. His newest hobby has a much brighter future than the older one, but that old one is too personal to just give up on. Gojo may have to give this some serious thought and make some hard decisions later to decide what his future should look like.